Career
Trout started his business career in the advertising department of
General Electric. From there he went on to become a divisional
advertising manager at Uniroyal. Then he joined Al Ries in the
advertising agency and marketing strategy firm where they worked
together for over twenty-six years.[1]
He is the founder and president of the international marketing strategy firm “Trout and Partners”. The firm is represented in offices in many countries worldwide including emerging markets.[2]
Trout has worked with a number of different client companies, including
"AT&T, Apple, Citicorp, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, IBM,
Pfizer, Proctor & Gamble, Southwest Airlines and Xerox". When
working with pizza chain Papa John's, Trout was majorly involved in the invention of the chain's slogan "better ingredients, better pizza".[2]
In the fall of 2002, Trout began working with the United States Department of State in order to "train new diplomats in the art of projecting a positive image of America overseas" as a part of the Brand America campaign, which sought to improve public opinion about the upcoming Iraq War.[3]
AL RIES
_ Al Ries is a marketing professional and author. He is also the co-founder and chairman of the Atlanta-based consulting firm Ries & Ries with his partner and daughter, Laura Ries. Along with Jack Trout, Ries coined the term "positioning", as related to the field of marketing, and authored Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind, an industry standard on the subject.
Ries graduated from DePauw University in 1950 with a degree in liberal arts and accepted a position with the advertising department of General Electric before founding his own advertising agency in New York City, Ries Cappiello Colwell, in 1963. The agency later changed to a marketing strategy firm, Trout & Ries.
In 1972, again cooperating with Trout, Ries co-authored a three-part
series of articles declaring the arrival of the "Positioning Era" in Advertising Age magazine, promoting their concept of positioning.
In 1994, Ries founded Ries & Ries with his daughter Laura a recent graduate of Northwestern University and TBWA advertising account executive.
Ries was selected as one of the most influential people in the field of public relations in the 20th century by PR Week magazine in 1999. Ries has also written a number of books that have made the BusinessWeek best seller list [1][2] on a number of occasions